Kentucky's Nerlens Noel, top, dunks over Auburn's Frankie Sullivan in the second half of their NCAA college basketbal game on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, in Auburn, Ala. Kentucky won 75-53. (AP Photo/Todd J. Van Emst)

AUBURN, Alabama---The way Kentucky responded after a poor
first half Saturday night at Auburn Arena showed just how rich the defending
national champions are.

Starting center Nerlens Noel, widely projected as a top 3
choice in the 2013 NBA Draft played just 11 minutes due to foul trouble. They
missed on 2 of their first 12 field goal attempts and sophomore point guard,
Ryan Harrow, the next in a long lineage of lead guards to play under coach John Calipari,
couldn't get going early.

The win was a sure sign of the progress this year's Kentucky
team has made.

"We played better than we have played," Calipari said.

The Wildcats led 30-25 at the half but broke the game
wide open in the second half, outscoring the Tigers by 17 in the second half.

Noel picked up his third personal when he was whistled for
an offensive foul 13 seconds into the game but remained on the floor.

He nearly missed a double-double, finishing with 10 points,
nine rebounds and tied his career-high with seven blocks.

His play, especially on the defensive end, was the fruit of
seeds Calipari and his staff have been planting in practice. Every day they do drills to
get the 6-foot-10, 228-pounder to stay on his feet as opposed to jumping for
every shot block attempt.

"That's part of buying in," Calipari said. "Like, don't
leave your feet. We're doing these drills.
Now, get in the game and concentrate. Have some discipline and he has. And
he's still blocking shots. He's blocking more now than he did before when he
was leaving his feet."

"It's the next game for us. Our whole thing is day-to-day.
We've got to build on what we just did today. I haven't looked at Alabama. I
haven't seen anything on Alabama. I know they won today against Texas A&M.
Texas A&M came into our building and beat us and they beat us good. So,
Texas A&M went down to Alabama and got beat today. So, I imagine Alabama is
really good."

Kentucky went up 10 for the first time against Auburn (8-9,
2-2) at 37-27 after Noel secured a rebound and swung an outlet pass to Harrow,
who went coast-to-coast for a layup with 16:54 remaining.

Harrow dished out a game-high eight assists and was one of
three Wildcats who scored a dozen along with freshmen guard Archie Goodwin and
forward Alex Poythress. Kyle Wiltjer led Kentucky, scoring 17 for the second
game in row.

Auburn went 0-for-15 from the 3-point line. It was the first
time the Wildcats had held an opponent without a 3-pointer since February 1st,
2010 in a win against Mississippi State.

"If you look at their stats, they're an OK 3-point shooting
team," Calipari said of Auburn. "But the last five games they've been shooting
40 percent. And so, one of the things that we talked about prior to the game
was we've got to guard the 3 this game. This is not a game where we can just
leave people alone."

Kentucky has won four of its last five and eight of its last
10.

"I think over Christmas break is when we start to really
come together because we're with each other all the time," Harrow said. "It's
just basketball and us. That's when really started to form that bond and started learning what all of our roles are and what coach specifically wants from us on
the floor."

Nick Birdsong covers HBCU sports and SEC men's basketball
for al.com. He can be reached at 205-325-2327 or nbirdsong@al.com. Follow him on Twitter
@birds_word.